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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29372871">Like Father, Like Son</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkribbon796/pseuds/Inkribbon796'>Inkribbon796</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Masks and Maladies [127]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Markiplier TV (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cannibalism, Demon Magic, Gen, Magic, quality father-son time, questionably obtained bags of human jerky, superhero au</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:55:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,801</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29372871</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkribbon796/pseuds/Inkribbon796</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bim knows he has an aura, and he’s very bothered by the fact it suddenly disappeared on him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Masks and Maladies [127]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538131</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Like Father, Like Son</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Slight warning for suspiciously obtained bags of human jerky, because Bim is a cannibal and Dark is an enabler.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>    Bim had been having a weird week. He wasn’t hurting, didn’t feel like his skin was crawling. He even found he could go just a few more days between his cravings.</p><p>    But there was something in the back of mind that told him that he should. That there was something wrong.</p><p>    It made something in Bim uneasy. He didn’t think he imagined that surge of power and that hunger, but it was getting to the point where a growing part of him worried he might have.</p><p>    After a couple more days of internally debating with himself, he decided the problem wasn’t going to get any better so he went to the attic to see if he could find anything that could tell him what was wrong.</p><p>    However there was no such luck up there.</p><p>    There were only boxes of old garbage up in the attic. So he went to the library.</p><p>    He instantly ran into a problem when he started looking at the books there. Bim didn’t know what in these books was important but after asking Illinois, his adopted brother told him that Dark kept all the aura tomes in his office and he might want to ask Dark.</p><p>    Except Bim didn’t want to ask Dark. He wanted to figure out how to do this on his own so he could impress Dark with it later.</p><p>    But he couldn’t get a portal to open again. He couldn’t even feel his aura.</p><p>    So Bim snuck into Dark’s home office and started looking through drawers, searching for any kind of book or amulet that looked like it could help him.</p><p>    Which is exactly when the Entity found him.</p><p>    Dark had a coffee in hand, and he paused when he saw Bim rooting through his desk. He arched an eyebrow and closed the door behind him. “Lose something?”</p><p>    “Kinda,” Bim admitted nervously.</p><p>    “Well, seeing as you’re an adult and I haven’t had to actually ground you in years, I doubt it’s in here.”</p><p>    “It’s-my-aura,” Bim rushed out to say.</p><p>    That seemed to confuse Dark even more, “Why would I have your aura in my office?”</p><p>    “No, I meant,” Bim felt frustrated, walking out from around Dark’s desk as the Entity was walking around the other side. “My aura disappeared.”</p><p>    Immediately Dark set his coffee down in worry and his eyes glowed with red and blue light as he carefully looked Bim up and down. He was clearly searching for something. “No,” he finally commented, and if Bim was imagining it, looked relieved, “your aura is still there.”</p><p>    “I can’t feel it,” Bim insisted. “Just a couple months ago it was there and it was fine.”</p><p>    Dark sat down, coffee cup in hand again, “Well you are Wil’s son. It makes sense that your aura would be hit-or-miss.”</p><p>    “Yeah, but I’m yours too,” Bim said with a sudden surety that Dark had never heard from him before. There was a little tremble to the hand Dark was using to hold his coffee. He set the cup to his lips to hide it.</p><p>    “I’m not some kid Dad had with a hooker,” Bim was too busy holding up his hands, trying to summon a portal, to notice Dark’s hand issue before Dark’s mental walls came back up.</p><p>    “What are you doing?” Dark asked.</p><p>    “Summoning a Void portal,” Bim answered. “I did it before, I can do it again.”</p><p>    “Why?” Dark’s aura pitched up a bit.</p><p>    “Because I can do it,” Bim got even more frustrated, “because I’ve done it before. Because none of the others can do it, not like you can.”</p><p>    “My condolences,” Dark commented.</p><p>    “For what?” Bim asked.</p><p>    Dark waved his hand to dismiss the question, “Anyways, before you ask there no way to get rid of or change an aura.”</p><p>    “No,” Bim insisted, walking forward and bracing his hands on Dark’s desk, “I want to get better at it.”</p><p>    “Why?” Dark pried.</p><p>    “I just told you, we’re the only ones who can make portals, and I made one but I can’t do it again. So I’m biting the bullet and asking you for help.”</p><p>    Dark’s initial dismissal caught in his throat. “Now isn’t the best time, Bim,” he denied carefully. “The Actor is nipping at my heels and there is a hoard of demon hunters in this city. Both of which would take great joy in killing you.”</p><p>    “That’s why I need to be able to protect myself,” Bim pleaded. “It’ll never be the best time if I keep waiting.”</p><p>    The Entity wanted to scream, this was already spiraling out of control. He had never wanted to have this conversation, but here he was.</p><p>    Dark rubbed at his head, “Fine, tomorrow, after your show. You will come to me, or I will not teach you. I will not remind you.”</p><p>    “Yes! Finally!” Bim smiled with excitement. “You won’t regret this.”</p><p>    “Be sure that I don’t,” Dark reminded sharply.</p><p>    Bim excitedly hurried out with another thank you, and all Dark could do was sit behind his desk. His temple resting against his hand, boiling in rage and apprehension. He summoned the book Bim had been actually looking for from the Void and disintegrated the priceless relic in his rage. If it was no use to him, he would ensure others never found it to use against him either.</p><p>    Then he reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes that had a little under half of its full content. The Entity gave in to his constant craving to try and chase another nicotine craving. One that never came because the body he was in was long dead and it only served to make him more stressed.</p><p>    The next day went relatively normally. Dark ordered Bim to come to him with a full stomach, both normal food and Bim’s cannibalistic craving. Bim agreed.<br/>Illinois was waiting with him in one of Dark’s <em>“disposal warehouses”</em> until Bim signaled that he wanted to come in for his lessons.</p><p>    A shame, Dark had silently hoped that Bim had forgotten and they could avoid this. But that was not the case.</p><p>    When Bim came in he was a bundle of excitement. Excitement that was briefly tempered when he saw Illinois standing with Dark.</p><p>    But the Entity walked forward, holding a bag in his hand.</p><p>    “It’s not fresh, but it’s worth a try,” Dark told him, passing him the bag.</p><p>    Bim opened it and saw that there were pieces of jerky, “Is this human?”</p><p>    “Yes, I figured if you had something in your system if you got a craving, then that might make things a bit easier,” Dark offered, his hands clasped behind his back.</p><p>    “Worth a try,” Bim agreed.</p><p>    Dark took a deep breath, “Alright, before this begins, I will need to give your aura a little boost, but to do that I need to actually touch you.”</p><p>    “Okay,” Bim allowed.</p><p>    The Entity lifted his hands and Bim flinched a tiny bit in anticipation, expecting Dark’s hands to be cold. He screwed his eyes shut. Dark usually made a point not to physically touch any of them with his bare skin, he used his aura as a thin buffer. But when Dark touched his skin, he didn’t feel cold. At least, not to Bim.</p><p>    Then all the sudden, Bim felt something in him twist, like a key placed in a lock. He felt the world hyperfocus on Dark and he felt a low growl coming from his own chest. He was looking Dark right in the eyes, growling. There was motion out of the corner of his eye. Probably from Illinois . . .</p><p>    But Illinois wasn’t important, Dark was. Dark was . . .</p><p>    . . . He was his dad, Bim had been growling at him like he wanted to get the demon away from him.</p><p>    Bim let out a strangled whimper and leaned his head forward and rested it on Dark’s chest. Awkwardly, Dark wrapped his aura around Bim and reached with a part of his aura to the bag of questionably obtained jerky and held it up for Bim who started idly chewing on it as Illinois ignored completely what was obviously in the bag.</p><p>    Illinois quickly spoke up in Korean, asking if Dark and Bim still needed him. But Bim didn’t hear it, he was too busy eating. It took Dark several attempts to get his attention but the young man looked at him.</p><p>    “Bim, do you still want to practice?” Dark asked.</p><p>    “Hm-mm,” Bim smiled, nodding.</p><p>    Dark rolled his eyes and brushed the hair out of his eye. “As long as you’re sure, no shame in backing out.”</p><p>    The young man was slowly coming back to himself. “What do I do first? Please don’t say exercise.”</p><p>    “Considering it’s your aura, unless it has something to do with ripping bodies apart, I doubt it,” Dark remarked.</p><p>    “Awesome,” Bim smiled.</p><p>    “Illinois is here to help, I figured it would be good to have a second opinion since he has a different aura than either of us,” Dark explained.</p><p>    “Okay,” Bim glanced at Illinois who was barely looking at them at the moment.</p><p>    “Anyways,” Dark began. “Auras are tricky creatures. They are extensions of your being, and you must learn to make yourself and your aura indistinguishable.”</p><p>    “Yeah, but how?” Bim asked.</p><p>    Illinois shrugged, “Same way you learn how to float in the water, you just do it.”</p><p>    “How?” Bim demanded.</p><p>    Illinois had the most baffled expression on his face, “How does yours usually manifest?”<br/>It was Bim’s turn to shrug, “I don’t know it kinda feels like a coat that’s too big for me.”</p><p>    Dark had another one of those jerky bags in his hands. “Then try to envision it shrinking and make the sleeves longer. Maybe instead of trying to make it an outward thing, you use what you’re already good at and make claws instead.”</p><p>    “Okay,” Bim smiled. It took a long frustrating hour, but Bim got to where he wanted. He had a couple quick and fast sparring sessions with Dark. He only lasted a couple minutes before he got so tired and so hungry that he had to stop.</p><p>    Bim was downright exhausted, and he felt like there was a part of him that controlled his hunger and it demanded to be fed. <em>Constantly!</em></p><p>    He did summon up a portal after envisioning Abe and snagged a pair of handcuffs from a belt, making sure he was fast. Then he downed the rest of the jerky bag Dark had given him.</p><p>    A laugh bubbled up from the young man as Bim swirled the handcuffs around a finger and felt like he was closer to something. That if he could get his whole body through a portal, and find a way to beat anti-magic barriers, he’d be invincible.</p><p>    And <em>every</em> part of Bim liked the sound of that.</p>
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